R2-D2 Creator Grant McCune Dead At 67 37
CBC reports on sad news for Star Wars fans: "Grant McCune, a special effects artist who earned an Oscar for his work on the 1977 film Star Wars, has died. He was 67. McCune died Monday at his home in Hidden Hills, Calif., of pancreatic cancer. McCune created scenes with miniatures, models and special effects for dozens of movies, including Spaceballs, Ghostbusters II and 2008's Rambo. He began in special effects in 1975 when he and friend Bill Shourt were hired to make a giant white shark model for Steven Spielberg's Jaws. They got no credit for the film, but McCune caught the eye of the film community and he became chief model maker for Star Wars, where he created R2-D2 and many of the creatures that populate the film."
Re:Uncredited in Jaws (Score:2, Insightful)
Weren't they uncredited in the movie Jaws because the robot hardly worked when they wanted it to?
Grant didn't build the mechanics. It wasn't his fault. Also it had never been done before so the team underestimated the stress the rig would be under. The only things like this that had been done were done in tanks not out in the open ocean. Spielberg was the one that started the BS about the shark not working. He recently admitted that the film was better because he originally intended to use the shark a lot more which wouldn't have worked as well. The effects crews take the blame never the studios that don't give them enough time or money. Look at it this way you ask an effects artist how much to build a shark that works reliably and they say 10 million so the studio says what can you do for a million then they bitch when there's problems. I used to get asked all the time how much to build a creature suit. I'd say $5,000 to $250,000, it depends what it looks like and what it has to do. It's exactly like saying how much to build a house? You say a 100K then they tell you it has to be 10,000 sq ft with a massive swimming pool and they expect you to stick to the 100K budget. That's what effects artists have to deal with.
Re:Sad really (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't beat yourself up. One can love a work without knowing its artist(s).
Re:Tag 'slownewsday' (Score:3, Insightful)
Long live real R2 droids.